tonhowtf/omniget · error

yt-dlp playlist failed

Error message

yt-dlp playlist failed: {}

What it means

When the playlist yt-dlp run exits non-zero, the code extracts a human-readable message from stderr with extract_error_message and returns it wrapped in this error. It means yt-dlp itself failed on the playlist URL — the wrapper is relaying yt-dlp's own diagnostic.

Solutions

  1. Update yt-dlp to the latest version — most extractor failures are fixed upstream
  2. Check the embedded stderr message: handle 429 with backoff, auth errors by refreshing cookies
  3. Verify the playlist URL is public and correctly formed
  4. Retry with different player clients or add browser cookies via --cookies-from-browser

Example fix

// before
return Err(anyhow!("yt-dlp playlist failed: {}", extract_error_message(&stderr)));
// after
if stderr_lower.contains("http error 429") {
    rate_limit_429_increment();
    return Err(anyhow!("yt-dlp playlist failed (rate limited, retry later): {}", extract_error_message(&stderr)));
}
return Err(anyhow!("yt-dlp playlist failed: {}", extract_error_message(&stderr)));
Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

// Preflight: confirm yt-dlp can reach the site with a cheap single-item probe
let probe = ytdlp_command(ytdlp)
    .args(["--flat-playlist", "--playlist-items", "1", "--dump-json", url])
    .output()
    .await;
if !probe.map(|o| o.status.success()).unwrap_or(false) {
    return Err("playlist URL rejected by yt-dlp preflight; check URL/auth/yt-dlp version".into());
}

Try / catch

match get_playlist_info(url).await {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("http error 429") => wait_and_retry_with_backoff(url),
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("yt-dlp playlist failed") => try_fallback_extractor_or_notify(e),
    other => other,
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: yt-dlp exits with failure while listing a playlist: HTTP 429 rate limiting (tracked separately), unsupported/private/deleted playlist, geo-block, signature/extractor breakage from an outdated yt-dlp, or bad cookies.

Common situations: Outdated yt-dlp after a YouTube layout change; rate-limited IPs on shared hosts; private or members-only playlists without valid cookies; URLs that are not actually playlists.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of tonhowtf/omniget@8600b91f42 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/db4a967bb960bee3. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src-tauri/omniget-core/src/core/ytdlp.rs:2606

    if !output.status.success() {
        let stderr = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr);
        let stderr_lower = stderr.to_lowercase();
        if stderr_lower.contains("http error 429") {
            rate_limit_429_increment();
            let sanitized_url = sanitize_log_line(url);
            let player_client = if is_youtube_url(url) {
                "default"
            } else {
                "n/a"
            };
            tracing::warn!(
                "[yt-429] rate limit in get_playlist_info: url={} player_client={} retries=3",
                sanitized_url,
                player_client
            );
        }
        return Err(anyhow!(
            "yt-dlp playlist failed: {}",
            extract_error_message(&stderr)
        ));
    }

    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
    Ok(parse_playlist_dump(&stdout, url))
}

fn parse_playlist_dump(stdout: &str, source_url: &str) -> (String, Vec<PlaylistEntry>) {
    let mut entries = Vec::new();
    let mut playlist_title = String::new();
    let source_is_youtube = is_youtube_url(source_url);

    for line in stdout.lines() {
        if line.trim().is_empty() {
            continue;
        }

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